Swedish court rules in favor of Boliden in Chile waste export case

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - A Swedish court ruled in favor of mining company Boliden in a civil case on Thursday, where the company had been sued over the export of industrial waste to Chile in the 1980s.

In the case between Boliden and around 800 people in the Chilean city of Arica, Boliden had been sued for around 100 million Swedish crowns ($12.12 million).

“The charges that have been brought against us have been rejected,” Boliden spokesman Klas Nilsson said.

“Our initial assessment is that this largely confirms the view that we have had, that this was done according to the existing rules and regulations”.

In the mid-1980s, Boliden exported smelter sludge to Arica, where it had signed an agreement with Chilean firm Promel which was going to reprocess the material. But Promel went out of business in the early 1990s and the waste was never fully processed.

The suit was brought against Boliden in 2013. The company has denied wrongdoing and argued the exports were carried out responsibly.